A similar pivoting bearing has been known from German Patent DE 21,44,507-C2. It permits radial, axial, and cardanic movements of the inner parts in relation to the housing due to molecular deformations of a rubber body. This rubber body is arranged between plate rings, to which it is connected by vulcanization. One of the plate rings is supported in an internally cylindrical housing on a shoulder, and the other plate ring is secured and held by a lock washer during the assembly of the bearing after axial pretensioning of the rubber body, so that frictionally engaged adhesion of the rubber body to the cylindrical jacket surface of the housing is achieved due to the forces resulting from the axial deformation of the rubber body. Such bearings are unsuitable for wide movements of the pull rod, which occur especially in triangular pull rods in vehicles with pneumatic spring action, because extreme deflections of the pull rod lead to excessive stretching of the rubber body.
The idea of combining such a joint with the effects of a molecular joint has been known from German Patent DE 34,19,967-A1.
FIGS. 3 and 4 of West German Utility Patent No. 66,06,534 and the corresponding part of the specification disclose a joint in which plate rings are arranged axially on both sides, and the actual rubber-metal ball joint is loosely introduced into a bore of the outer housing and is then axially deformed via the plate rings, so that the elastomer body is pressed against the inner jacket of the housing bore, but that the elastomer body can slip through when a defined torsional moment is exceeded. However, this can be considered to be only one type of protection against rupture.
GB 1,078,641 discloses a rotary slide bearing, in which a rubber body is attached to an inner part in a stress-free manner and is mounted rotatably in a cylindrical housing. However, such a bearing has only low axial load-bearing capacity.
FR 1,407,673 discloses a rotary slide bearing, in which the inner part is elliptical, so that the rubber body is slidingly movable on this elliptical part, and restoring forces are built up as the deflection of the inner part in relation to the housing, in which the rubber body is fixed, increases. Such a pivoting bearing also compensates only the radial movements of the inner part and of the housing relative to one another due to molecular deformation of the rubber body.
Finally, German Patent DE 37,15,360-C2 discloses a molecular joint of the class in which material recesses are provided in a middle zone on the inner surface of the internally cylindrical housing, and these recesses reduce the pre-tension of an elastomer body in this area in order to reach a progressively changing spring rate as the load increases.